Following their close win, here are the victors of the Le Mans 24 Hours held on June 11-12, 1954. On the left standing behind the wheel is José Froilán González while on his right is his co-driver Maurice Trintignant. Trintignant has obviously been out of the car for the last stint as he looks recently refreshed, unlike González who until recently has been driving in the rain. Their car was a Ferrari 375 Plus with a motor enlarged to 4.9 liters.
Much of this Le Mans was run in wet conditions as seen at the left in Dunlop Curve with Trintignant at the wheel. The winning Ferrari was less than three minutes ahead at the finish over a Jaguar D-Type driven by Duncan Hamilton and Tony Rolt, former Le Mans winners.
After Le Mans this Ferrari was sold to John Edgar in California who had Jack McAfee drive it for him. Their first race was the Carrera Panamericana Mexico where McAfee crashed and rolled the Ferrari not long after the start with his navigator Ford Robinson being killed. A rebody was done for Edgar by Scaglietti and McAfee continued to drive for him. Years later it was acquired by the late French collector Pierre Bardinon who had a replica done of its original Pininfarina bodywork. His heirs still own this Le Mans winning Ferrari.
Photos by Yves Debraine ©The Klemantaski Collection – http://www.klemcoll.com
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